Italy’s hopes of qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup came crashing down as they lost to North Macedonia in one of the biggest upsets in football history. This is the second consecutive time that Italy has failed to qualify for the mega event.
The four-time World Champions looked on course to qualify for the next round of the play-offs as they named a star-studded line-up to face the lowly ranked North Macedonia. Italy was stunned as North Macedonia broke the deadlock in the second minute of stoppage time as Aleksandar Trajkovski broke the Italian hearts.
The current Euro champions will once again miss the FIFA World Cup after their disappointing absence from the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Their previous failure to qualify for the mega event was the first time since 1958 that they did not participate in the world cup.
Italian national team saw a massive change in fortunes after their failure to qualify for the previous edition of the world tournament. They went on a magnificent 37-match unbeaten run including their exceptional title win in Euro 2020.
Since then, the Azzurri have been a shadow of their former selves as they drew 4 matches in their last five qualifiers which saw them finish below Switzerland in the qualification group stages as they missed the automatic qualifier spot in the FIFA World Cup.
Meanwhile, North Macedonia has created history and they have qualified to face Portugal in the next round of qualification round. The winner of the encounter will book their place in the mega event in Qatar.
So far, 17 out of a total of 32 teams have already qualified for the World Cup.
Here’s the list of teams qualified for the 2022 World Cup so far:
| Qatar | Germany | Denmark | Brazil | France |
| Belgium | Croatia | Spain | Serbia | England |
| Switzerland | Argentina | Netherlands | Iran | South Korea |
| Japan | Saudi Arabia |
